The invention is in the field of three-dimensional inflatable promotional displays, in which the inventor has been an industry leader for years. More particularly, the invention pertains to giant inflated replicas of soft drink bottles, such as PepsiCola and CocaCola bottles, which have external ribs running generally longitudinally of the bottle. These ribs have come to be identified closely with the soft drinks that they contain. The longitudinal ribs of the CocaCola bottle make that bottle easily recognizable even when the name is covered, and the same is true of the slightly spiralled ribs of the PepsiCola bottle.
However, unlike the creation of a cylindrical soft drink or beer can in which the billowing influence of internal pressure is an aid in maintaining the proper shape, the alternate ribs and furrows of the PepsiCola and CocaCola bottles require an internal structure to restrain the skin along the furrows, permitting the billowing therebetween of the ribs. Otherwise, the body of the bottle would simply bloat out into a cylinder and would not be simulate the actual bottle. However, whereas it is easy to generate as many glass bottles as one wants from a mold of virtually any shape, the creation of an inflatable which will adequately define the ribs has required considerable experimentation and ingenuity.